Chookshed Stitcher 2024 Challenge - June

 

Time to share my June project. 

My project #10 was to start my Sunny Days bunting.

We have been very busy but I did manage to make a start.

There are seven flags to stitch.

 First one finished.

 

At Chrissie's Timeless Treasures Needlework Gathering today

I finished the second one and made a start on the third.

Lucky me won two raffle prizes!

Tomorrow Deana will draw out the next project number. 

By the time she does, Noel and I will be heading 

off on our new road trip to the Kimberley to visit Nelson.

 So whatever project number Deana draws out, 

I'll be changing mine to my latest road trip rug!

With over 4,000km each way, 

I should get my navy and white one finished. 

I've bought some more wool to start another rug. 

A pretty one this time!
 

After all that travelling we did last year, 

we had planned to take our new caravan and 

just spend a week or two in one spot! 

So much for that plan! 

 

We are heading up to Kununurra where Nelson will pick 

us up and drive us to Mitchell Falls Wilderness Lodge 

where he is working for the dry season. 

The kids at the Kandiwal aboriginal community 

(where we stayed in 2022) is next to the lodge and 

they are very excited that we are coming back.

 

I'll have lots of photos to share when we get home.

A Rocking Day Out!

I was lucky enough to win a

 "Rocking Day Out in Bendigo" 

on radio 3AW.

Wednesday was the day. 

We had an early start and left home at 5.30am to 

catch the train to Southern Cross. 

Then onto another train to Bendigo.

We were hosted by David Mann aka "Mann About Town" 

and Bronwyn from 3AW.

First stop was the Elvis: Direct from Graceland Exhibition. 

It was fabulous.

Priscilla's wedding dress.

 

Some of the items on show have never 

even been displayed at Graceland.

There were many of Elvis' costumes.

The amount of decoration on some of them was amazing.

Then we were off to Balgownie Estate for lunch.

This is Jack Gatto, Australia's greatest Elvis impersonator.

 He also plays guitar with the Wiggles and

 is the stand-in for Anthony, the blue Wiggle!

He just happened to be at the exhibition as he was there 

for an interview on Sunrise earlier in the morning. 

David invited him to join us for lunch which was a lovely bonus.

 Jack treated us to a couple of songs.

He showed us one of his costumes. 

It is an exact replica of one of Elvis' and he had to 

get permission from the Graceland Estate to have it. 

It is quite heavy.

After lunch it was off to the 

"Shake, Rattle and Roll Cocktail Tram"! 

There was a cocktail (or two!) and lots of singing. 

I filmed Jack singing but it's too large a file for Blogger. 

Such a pity as he is great.

We even had a bit of a dance!

And another one when we got off the tram! Haha!

They had Elvis playing over the loud speaker. 

We're a bit rusty as we haven't been dancing for a while.

Then it was time to catch the train back to Melbourne. 

While waiting at Southern Cross Station for our train 

home to Diamond Creek, we chatted some more with one 

of the couples while we waited. After getting to know each 

other a bit more we worked out that Boris and I went to school

 together over 40 years ago! We both remembered each other's 

names but not faces as we didn't really 

"hang around together" at school. It's such a small world.

 

What a fabulous day we had! 

It was a long day as we didn't get home until 7.45pm.

I had forgotten I'd entered the competition 

and then thought the prize was a 

double pass to the exhibition. But it was so much more.

I hope you've enjoyed hearing about our 

"Rocking Day Out in Bendigo"!

To Sew Or Not To Sew!

Saturday I joined Chookyblue and the girls for some zoom stitching. 

I worked on my "To Sew Or Not To Sew" cube.

All the blocks ready to join together.

I have used all Tilda fabrics except for the background.

Even the inside looks pretty!

Stuffing time!

 

Ta Da! All finished.

What shall I do today?

 

 

 

This was such a fun little project.

The pattern is "To Sew Or Not To Sew" by Ellie's Quilt Place.

As if zoom stitching Saturday wasn't enough, Sunday

I headed off to Ballan for Chrissie's Timeless Treasures 

Needlework Gathering with Melody. 

We always have such a fabulous time there.

I was very lucky and won this bundle of 

Gail Pan's fabrics in one of the raffles.

Lucky Me!

Recently, Julie from My Threadbear Life 

had a giveaway and I won her first prize.

My parcel arrived from New Zealand beautifully decorated. 

Tony, my delivery guy, said I must be pretty special 

to get such a lovely parcel! LOL!

More lovely doily decorations!

Julie makes her own candles and puts them in 

up-cycled containers. I wish you could smell the scent. 

The fragrance is French Pear and it's beautiful.

There was a mug rug made with beautiful Tilda fabrics. 

This one now sits on the table next to my spot on the couch.

Julie also made a decorated tea towel.

Again she has used Tilda fabric and added a lovely trim. 

Look how beautifully she finished off the towel with a hanging loop

Little finishing touches.

There was also a knitted dish cloth, 

along with some chocolates, teas and tea infuser.

I found Julie's blog back in 2016 and we've corresponded

 every since. I hope to one day get back to 

New Zealand and meet up with Julie in person.

Thank you so much Julie. I feel very spoilt.

Head over to Julie's blog to see all her beautiful work.

You won't be disappointed!

Catching Up!

 I finished my "House Rules" stitchery a few weeks ago but only 

just got around to framing it. But I'm going to have to take it out as 

the fold line is still showing. Hopefully, I can get rid of it. 

The pattern is by by Leanne Knell of Petals and Patches.

 This is the prize pack I won from Toni Alexander at the

 Red Boots Gang a little while ago.

 For Mother's Day, Mitchell got me this book (he made have had 

a little help!) by Toni. There are so many lovely things in it.

 I have started a new hand project, "The Happy Stitcher". 

I bought the kit at the recent AQC.

I've also started preparing for a new baby quilt.

Last Saturday, Noel and Nelson headed off on the trip of a life time. 

They are walking the Kokoda Track in Papua New Guinea. 

The trek is 96km of rugged terrain and they finish the trek on Monday. 

We don't have any contact with them but the tour company has been putting

 daily reports on facebook. They seem to be going well 

but I'm looking forward to them getting home and telling us all about it.

Well, that's a bit of a catch up here at MacDonald's Patch. 

Hopefully, I'll have some great photos of Noel and Nelson's 

Kokoda trip to share with you.